To the Stars, We Return

A Houston-based startup will send your cremated remains to outer space - at the very reasonable rate of $12,500 per gram.

Axar.az reports that if that's a bit too pricey for you, you can get a three-ounce (85 gram) bottle of your remains sent into low-Earth orbit for a mere $5,000, where it will spiral for a few years before being pulled back towards Earth and burned up during re-entry.

Space burial services such as these continue to grow in popularity, and start-ups such as Celestis (who have launched the remains of dozens of people into orbit since they began operations in 2015) have come to address that niche. Celestis CEO Charles Chafer says that his company intends to send the remains of as many as 500 Americans into orbital and deep-space graves in 2017.

"We're in the tsunami phase of new space activities," Chafer said to the OC Register.

Celestis has partnered with Argos Funeral Service, the first funeral provider to acquire permission to send cremated remains to the Moon. The ashes of the rich and strange who wish to be buried on the moon will hitch a ride aboard a Moon Express private flight. At that point, a robotic lunar lander will carry the ashes and DNA to their permanent resting place.